Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, apostolic nuncio to Israel and apostolic delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine, condemned an arson attack on the parish in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Vatican News reported that during the December 22 attack, “alleged radicalized young Muslims” vandalized a Christmas tree. Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali of Jerusalem traveled to Jenin to dedicate a new Christmas tree the next day.

The attack cast “a big, heavy shadow on the Christmas spirit’s joy that all our Christian communities, and even non-Christian, have begun to celebrate after two years of being limited to very simple manifestations,” said Archbishop Yllana. “We condemn this absolutely, because we are supposed to live as brothers here.”

In his Christmas homily, the vicar general of Trinidad and Tobago’s sole diocese spoke of fears that “Venezuela might bomb Trinidad, and so we have this specter. We have this darkness that is over us.”

“It is not a cause for despair, because Scripture tells us a light shines in the dark, and the darkness did not overcome,” said Father Martin Sirju, as he preached at the cathedral in Port of Spain, the nation’s capital.

Father Sirju also called on the wealthy not to hoard toilet paper and other supplies, but instead to remember the poor.

On Christmas Day, the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (CNEWA profile) spoke of a “contradiction” between the continued violence against Christians in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expressions of respect for Christians.

“On one side, the prime minister is taking part in Christmas celebrations,” said Cardinal Basilios Cleemis. “In another place, the opposite is happening.”

“Even after informing those in power and hearing assurances, when it comes to putting those statements into action, they have failed,” he added.

Cardinal Cleemis’s comments followed a statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India condemning the “alarming rise in attacks on Christians in various states of our country.”

Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, closed the basilica’s holy door on Christmas evening, as the 2025 jubilee year begins to come to a close.

“What is being closed is not divine grace, but a special time for the Church; while what remains open forever is the heart of merciful God,” said Cardinal Makrickas, who noted that 2025 was the first jubilee year since 1700 with two popes.

Under the altered schedule for the conclusion of the jubilee year, the archpriest of the Lateran Basilica will close the holy door there on December 27. The archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls will close the holy door there on December 28, and Pope Leo XIV will end the jubilee year with the closing of the holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica on January 6.

In his Christmas message, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem contrasted the “common refrain” of “violence, strength, and hatred” with the tenderness and love awakened by the birth of the Incarnation Son of God.

“God, through Jesus Christ, enters in our history, enters in our nights in the reality of the most fragile element we know, a newborn child, who is very fragile, in need of everything, dependent on everything, and very weak,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM.

“A newborn child awakes in everyone tenderness and love, and this is what we need especially in our time,” he added, “and we will continue to be as Christians a place of care, tenderness, and love, without limitations without borders; love without borders; this is what we need right now.”

Christmas was celebrated with public festivity in Bethlehem for the first time since 2022.

“Caesar’s decree seems to dominate the scene: the emperor who counts, records, organizes and govern,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, preached at Midnight Mass there (video). “Yet, without knowing it, that very decree becomes an instrument of a greater design.”

“This is one of the great announcements of Christmas: God does not wait for history to get better before He enters it. He enters while history is what it is,” Cardinal Pizzaballa continued. “Thus, He teaches us that no time is definitively lost and no situation is too dark for God to dwell in.”

On the Second day within the Octave of Christmas the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Stoned outside Jerusalem, he died praying for his executioners. He was one of the seven deacons who helped the apostles; he was "filled with faith and with the Holy Spirit," and was "full of fortitude." The Church draws a comparison between the disciple and his Master, emphasizing the imitation of Christ even unto the complete gift of self. His name is included in the Roman Canon.

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